Guest Posted 3 July , 2015 Share Posted 3 July , 2015 One of the very many large gaps in my knowledge of the Great War is the Royal Naval Division. I plan to resolve this. Their diaries are mostly MIA. A quick trawl of spamazon suggest the following books might be required reading: 1. Royal Naval Division by Jerrold 2. On Four Fronts with the Royal Naval Divsion by Sparrow and Macbean Ross 3. Khaki Jack: The RND in the First World War by Coleman 4. The Hawke battalion of the Royal Naval Division During the First World War by Jerrold 5. The Hood Battalion by Sellers To avoid any wreckommendations, if anyone has an informed view I would be grateful if you could advise: Do I... A. Buy 1 & 2 B Buy 3 C Buy 4 & 5 D All of the above. Thanks in advance MG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnboy Posted 3 July , 2015 Share Posted 3 July , 2015 Might be of help? https://archive.org/search.php?query=royal%20naval%20division Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaeldr Posted 3 July , 2015 Share Posted 3 July , 2015 Martin, On Four Fronts can be downloaded here https://archive.org/stream/onfourfrontswith00sparrich#page/n0/mode/2up I would also definitely add to your list Len Sellers' magazine RND which he published in “24 three monthly parts between June 1997 and March 2003. The issues contained 2,443 pages [A4], 581 photographs, 75 maps and plans and 71 poems. A separate index was produced for every eight issues together with a general contents list.....The magazines were never printed in any great quantity and are now rare to find. To buy the complete set of the 24 magazines produced would have cost £185. You can now own the complete magazines on one CD in PDF format at a fraction of that price.” You can get the CD from the shop at the Crystal Palace http://www.crystalpalacefoundation.org.uk/shop/world-war-one-two/royal-naval-division The RM element of the RND are covered in 'Britain's Sea Soldiers' by Gen Sir H E Blumberg To the histories of the Hawke & the Hood battalions you may also wish to add 'Nelson at War 1914-1918' by Capt Roy Swales RN rtd. [iBSN 1 84468 018 5] You may also find it useful to have a look at Capt Christopher Page's military biography of Brig Gen A M Asquith DSO** - Command in the Royal Naval Division [iSBN 1 86227 048 1] On the WF the 63rd (RN) Div's 190th Brigade were joined by certain army formations and their individual histories will also prove useful eg The Honourable Artillery Company, The Artists Rifles etc etc Good luck Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidIsby Posted 3 July , 2015 Share Posted 3 July , 2015 I can add my recommendation for Page's book, which is an excellent book on battlefield command in the Great War as well as a fascinating study of a man that died too late to be on the war memorials but still much too soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GraemeClarke Posted 4 July , 2015 Share Posted 4 July , 2015 Hi RND by Douglas Jerrold http://www.naval-military-press.com/royal-naval-division.html http://www.amazon.co.uk/ROYAL-NAVAL-DIVISION-Douglas-Jerrold/dp/1843422611 Regards, Graeme Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulgranger Posted 4 July , 2015 Share Posted 4 July , 2015 Khaki Jack seems to be drawn from secondary sources. Nice selection of photos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaeldr Posted 4 July , 2015 Share Posted 4 July , 2015 Khaki Jack seems to be drawn from secondary sources. And has a whole chapter on 'The 4th Battalion at Zeebrugge' ???????????????????? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaureenE Posted 4 July , 2015 Share Posted 4 July , 2015 Some online links from the FiBiS Fibiwiki pages Royal Navy and Gallipoli, additional to above. http://wiki.fibis.org/index.php/Royal_Navy#Historical_books_online http://wiki.fibis.org/index.php/Gallipoli include 1913-2009 issues of The Naval Review, Journal of the Naval Society. Browse the Contents page for each issue, or there is an Index of articles 1913-1976. Pdf downloads. During most of WWI the Journal was not published, but information was collected and published after the War. History of the Great War based on official documents: Naval Operations.Volumes I-III by Sir Julian Stafford Corbett, Volumes IV-V by Henry Newbolt. Published 1920-1931. Archive.org and Hathi Trust (Vol. V) Volume I, Volume II, includes Gallipoli. Volume III Includes Gallipoli and Mesopotamia. Volume IV , includes Mesopotamia. Volume V The Heroic Record of the British Navy; a Short History of the Naval War, 1914-1918 by Archibald Hurd and H H Bashford 1919 Archive.org The Navy in Mesopotamia, 1914 to 1917 by Conrad Cato 1917 Archive.org [World War I] Naval Staff Monographs. Compiled by the Historical Section of the Training and Staff Duties Division of the Naval Staff from Admiralty records and original papers in the temporary custody of the the Historical Section of the Committee of Imperial Defence. Website of the Royal Australian Navy. (Select Media Room/Publications/World War I Naval Staff Monographs). Includes ''Volume 2 East Africa to July 1915; Cameroons, 1914''. ''Volume 4: Mesopotamia and the Persian Gulf''. The unnumbered volume includes East Indies Squadron, 1914 Gallipoli "Dardanelles Operations" page 59 Naval power in the war (1914-1917) by Lieut. Comdr Charles C Gill, U S N. 1918 Archive.org A Naval Venture: The War Story of an Armoured Cruiser by Fleet-Surgeon T. T. Jeans, R.N. 1917 gutenberg.org. The Royal Navy during the Dardanelles operations. With the Fleet in the Dardanelles, some impressions of naval men and incidents during the campaign in the spring of 1915 by William Harold Price, Sometime Chaplain of HMS Triumph c 1915 Archive.org The immortal gamble and the part played in it by H. M. S. "Cornwallis by A T Stewart, Acting Commander R N and Rev C J E Peshall , Chaplain R N 1917 Archive.org The Navy In The Dardanelles Campaign by Lord Wester-Wemyss c 1924 is available to read online on the Digital Library of India website. Dardanelles Dilemma: The Story of the Naval Operations by E. Keble Chatterton 1935 available to read online on the Digital Library of India website. From Dartmouth To The Dardanelles: A Midshipman’s Log edited by His Mother 1916 is available to read online on the Digital Library of India website. Cheers Maureen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted 4 July , 2015 Share Posted 4 July , 2015 Dear All - thank you for your considered responses. I am particularly grateful for the links, so thank you to Michael and Maureen for going to such lengths. It is very much appreciated. I am still unsure about Khaki Jack. Is it worth buying? MG PS. I forgot to mention that I own Blumberg's hefty tome "Britain's Sea Soldiers". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Broomfield Posted 4 July , 2015 Share Posted 4 July , 2015 The RND History by Jerrold is very good. I believe (I might be wrong, of course) that there was a second edition which was lacking maps (am i going mad, or is that the case - check with that chap in Brighton). I like it, I must say. You're welcome to borrow mine if you want to sample. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GraemeClarke Posted 4 July , 2015 Share Posted 4 July , 2015 Hi My copy of RND from N&M has some illustrations but certainly no maps, Graeme Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
horatio2 Posted 4 July , 2015 Share Posted 4 July , 2015 The original (1923) "RND" had two dozen illustrations and eight fold-out maps bound in the book. My later edition (c.2000) came with the maps rolled in a tube. Recent reprint editions have no maps ("Maps Illustrating Operations of Royal Naval Division") and do not even list them . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted 4 July , 2015 Share Posted 4 July , 2015 The comments of the maps (or lack of) etc are extremely useful. Thank you. I also forgot to say I tend to buy the original editions rather than N&MP whose reproduction quality is sometimes poor. That is a minor issue. I am more interested in whether the content is any good and the (original) book worth buying. There is a wide range in quality of regimental histories and I assume the RND is no different. Blumberg's tome is objective in my view and a worthwhile purchase. No regrets. I do note that the early editions of some of the RND books are not that expensive. MG The RND History by Jerrold is very good. I believe (I might be wrong, of course) that there was a second edition which was lacking maps (am i going mad, or is that the case - check with that chap in Brighton). I like it, I must say. You're welcome to borrow mine if you want to sample. A very kind offer but I now have one winging it way to me. Jerrold seems to be a compulsory purchase. MG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaureenE Posted 4 July , 2015 Share Posted 4 July , 2015 I have found an online version of The Royal Naval Division by Douglas Jerrold 1923, on the National Library of Australia website. http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-52178355/view I don't know whether it is my browser, but the book file initially displayed as a black space, and I had to drag this to the left until the text was displayed. The book file has at least some maps. Cheers Maureen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
horatio2 Posted 4 July , 2015 Share Posted 4 July , 2015 One minor shortcoming in Jerrold is that he concentrates on the naval and RMLI battalions and his coverage of the army battalions in 190 Bde is not quite so thorough. Moreover, his narrative peters out after the early October 1918 battles of the RND south of Cambrai. The final RND operations in early November 1918 up to the Armistice are covered in less than one page. He does not cover post-Armistice movements at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Broomfield Posted 6 July , 2015 Share Posted 6 July , 2015 Oddly enough, I saw a copy of the 2nd Edition for sale yesterday; I'd never seen one before. I was surprised how much smaller it is than the 1st edition. Is it only the maps and photos which are missing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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